Frettens backing Christchurch Town Centre Neighbourhood Forum

AuthorMatthew Fretten

Frettens backing Christchurch Town Centre Neighbourhood Forum

Christchurch Town Council is developing a new neighbourhood plan, a process that Frettens are delighted to be involved in.

Neighbourhood planning is part of the government’s reform agenda that aims to incentivise housing and economic growth, put more power in the hands of local people and deliver a simpler planning system.

Christchurch Town Centre Neighbourhood Plan

The Town Centre Neighbourhood Plan is in its first consultation phase, and is looking for input from businesses which have a connection with the area covered by the Plan (outlined below). The committee have set up a survey to gather input about what issues are more important for the plan to cover, that can be accessed here.

Managing Partner, Matt Fretten, urges as many town centre businesses to take part as possible.

“As an established Christchurch business with a long history of involvement in the town, we welcome any initiative that encourages local people to have more of an input into neighbourhood planning.

2020 has been a tough year for everyone, and town centres have been hit harder than most by COVID restrictions. It is during challenging times like these that community becomes even more important. Hopefully the neighbourhood plan will enable Christchurch businesses to be supported as we recover together and welcome people back into the town throughout 2021 and beyond.”

For the purposes of the neighbourhood plan, Christchurch Town is defined as a quite broad area covering the entire parish. It reaches out from the high street to include St Catherine's Hill, Barrack Road, Somerford, Mudeford, Stanpit, Jumpers, Friars Cliff and Purewell.

Here are the maps outlining the areas.

What is a neighbourhood plan?

Christchurch is following other neighbourhoods in the borough who already have plans in place, including Boscombe and Pokesdown, Broadstone and Poole Quays.

The main aims of the process are to:

provide communities with the opportunity to prepare planning policies for their area
be a community initiated process, led by the business and residential communities
it is not compulsory, it is not about strategic issues and it is not about stopping development

The role of the neighbourhood forum

The role of Christchurch Town Council is to:

instigate the process of preparing the neighbourhood plan
lead on the plan preparation
involve key organisations and individuals in preparing the plan
keep people informed of progress on the plan
prepare the required evidence
ensure the required statutory duties are undertaken

The Neighbourhood Plan for Christchurch is being prepared by the Town Council with a 12 member committee who live and/or work in Christchurch and who comprise 5 Town Councillors and 7 volunteers who widely represent the local community giving a balanced representation of social, business, environmental and economic interests.